Media Watch

A newsroom subsidized? Minds reel, NY Times cuts 100 in newsroom

"Those of us who work in traditional media have spent a fair amount of time wondering what part of the implosion in advertising revenue is cyclical (ad buying is suffering because of the recession) and what part is secular (we're making horse buggies)."

By Walter Brooks

The number of newspaper editorial employees grew to 60,000 in 1992, from 40,000 in 1971, and is now driving back to 40,000 in 2009, with no real bottom in sight.

That's the way David Carr's column in today's New York Times begins, and it goes downhill from there.  The only good news was that although the McClatchy Company's advertising revenue fell 28.1 percent in the third quarter, it had a net income of $23.6 million in the quarter, it was a huge improvement over the $4.2 million a year earlier, but the reason the balance sheet cleaned up so nicely was because the company eliminated more than 30 percent of its work force in the 18 months.

Carr went on to write, "The beginnings of an answer came on Thursday, when Google announced that search advertising had come roaring back and said that stronger-than-expected third-quarter results suggested the global economy might be coming back. Net income rose 27 percent in the third quarter as strong advertising sales, most all of it from search, increased revenue 7 percent."

First layoff in NY Times history
8% of newsroom staff is cut

The New York Times plans to eliminate 100 newsroom jobs - about 8 percent of the total - by year's end, offering buyouts to union and nonunion employees, and resorting to layoffs if it cannot get enough people to leave voluntarily, the paper announced on Monday... Business Insider.

Printing presses and buggy whips

Mr. Carr and other foresighted media critics whose heads are not buried in the sand have long seen the steady march towards new media from the old as newspaper subscribers die off and are not replaced by generations now comfortable with getting their information free and fast online.

The news business model is no different from that which established radio, television and cable in the recent past.

Advertising, eagerly paid by businesses wishing to reach the active consumers who get their news online.

Readers like you.